Greetings from a Cheesehead! Intro and a question about leg pain

#1

I’ve been a lurker and decided to finally join up and intro myself. I started Keto on 1/3/19 and it’s been an interesting process so far. I’m female, 45 years old, and starting weight was 178.2 at 5’9". My main reason for going Keto is that I was creeping into pre-diabetes range with some wonky blood sugars and a borderline A1C, and also because I’ve been increasingly unhappy with the amount of fat my body has stored over the past few years. I’ve been gluten intolerant my entire life and GF completely for 12 years, so making the vertical leap into keto wasn’t too huge of a stretch from a sugar and carb standpoint.

Weight loss has been slow. I’m currently at 171 pounds. But I’ve noticed my body has changed in many places. Some of that fat is gone! Pretty cool to see that I have a waist again and can count my ribs! I’ve read a ton and realize that as a woman of my age, it can take months to years to reach my goal weight of 160. That’s okay!

Here is my question, and something I haven’t seen specifically talked about. I’m very active. I work as an EMT and also in a neurology clinic full time so I’m on my feet and running about all the time. I’m an avid hiker and kayaker and in the summer months, my teen girls and I are always doing an outdoor adventure.

Since starting keto, I’ve noticed I have pretty significant leg fatigue. We just got home from a trip to Disney in Florida, and while I could keep up with everyone (we walked about 10 miles per day), by the end of the evening, my legs were a mess. Aching, tired, fatigued, heavy. Crawling into bed was horrible. Restless leg all night. It’s been this way since day 5 on keto when I went into the “keto flu” and chugged electrolyes like I was dying. They helped minimally. Man, my body hurt so bad during that keto flu. Overall, the body aches are gone but the leg issue isn’t much better.

I drink 2-3 glasses of electrolytes per day and I get some relief. The fatigue and heaviness is mostly in my thighs. I go to bed, and the restless leg starts up. This has NEVER happened to me before. I’m a little afraid of how this will affect my lifestyle. I’m thinking I need more potassium? Anyone with advice or a similar problem?

I do have a physical coming up in May, and I can tough it out until then. Hoping maybe it will pass.

For anyone who is interested, some stats thus far:

Down 2.5" on my waist
Down 2" on my hips
Down 1" on my thighs
7.5 # weight loss
Week 6 of Keto

(Cindy) #2

What’s in your electrolyte drinks? I’d say you need more magnesium, but maybe that’s already In there?

#3

Hello @EMTMom.

I’m gonna echo Cindy’s question of what’s in your electrolyte drink?

I’ve been on keto for 2 years now, and I still deal with legs cramps and twitches (not “fatigue” specifically), and I believe I’m taking plenty of magnesium and potassium.

However, what I’ve recently decided is I wasn’t getting enough salt everyday. I just can’t seem to remember to take it when it’s convenient.

Here is a comment from @PaulL about salt I hope you’ll find helpful. His comment was specifically related to keto flu, but I think it might be just as insightful here.

I hope this helps. If not, I’m sure someone smarter than me will come along shortly with a better answer. :slight_smile:

Thanks for dropping by and introducing yourself.

(Cindy) #4

Something else I learned this past weekend about magnesium and leg cramps…since your body strictly regulates how much magnesium is in your blood stream, it’ll pull magnesium from your muscles and bones. So if you’re magnesium levels are really depleted, it can take weeks of magnesium supplements to actually have enough…even though blood levels show normal.

I’ve been very hit or miss about taking magnesium. Usually just take it for a day or two when I’m getting cramps. Now I realize I should really take it on a daily basis for a while.

(Daisy) #5

I will echo the others and shout “MAGNESIUM!”

I have suffered from severe restless leg syndrome and muscle cramps in my legs. Magnesium oils and magnesium supplements (I prefer glycinate) have made a 100% improvement!

(Janelle) #6

7 lbs in 6 weeks is actually pretty good. For every man and “unicorn” woman who say they lose 3-5lbs a week, there are more for whom a lb a week is good news. Glad you are seeing good body changes.

I’ll second and third the Magnesium. I’m taking it in the “Citrate” form. Helps me with other things too like regularity and sleep.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

If you started on January 3 of this year, then you haven’t been eating a ketogenic diet long enough to be fully fat-adapted yet. I suspect the problem might not be electrolytes, but simply that your muscles haven’t finished switching into fat-burning mode, so they are still making do with ketones. After spending years in a high-insulin environment metabolizing nothing but glucose, it takes time for your mitochondria to heal and for the production of certain chemicals involved in lipolysis to ramp up. For most people, fat-adaptation takes six to eight weeks, occasionally longer in some people. During these weeks, most athletes notice a distinct drop in performance. The good news is that it does come back.

#8

No advice but I do know that people who have periodic leg movement disorder (the night-time version of restless legs) have post mortem low iron levels in the Substantia Nigra area in the brain.

Maybe check your serum ferritin levels? Good luck!

(Carl Keller) #9

My first thought about your fatigue issue agrees with Paul. I think if you tried all this walking a month or two from now, you might notice a big improvement after fat-adaptation.

Also, that’s at least 3-4 hours of continuous walking, not counting the time when you are standing still and on your feet. I imagine most people would be totally wiped out after waking half a marathon.

#10

Thank you, everyone. I’m currently using the Ultima electrolyte replacement. It tastes great and is formulated for keto. I do notice some difference when I drink it, but it’s hard to tell because the symptoms come back quickly. I’ll pick up some magnesium and start taking that daily, too.

I need to look up how often to drink electrolyte replacement, too. Maybe I’m just not taking in enough.

(Jane) #11

Go slow on the magnesium as you can get loose stools pretty quick from it. You can also try soaking in an Epsom salt bath and bypass the digestive tract altogether.

I agree with @PaulL that some of what you are dealing with is adaptation. We went to Italy last September and one day we were in Venice we hit 10 miles of walking. Most days it was 5–7 mikes and we did that for 2 weeks w/o getting sore or tired. We were over 9 months on keto so running on fat just fine! :grin:

(Jane) #12

Oh and I just turned 60 so no spring chicken and I don’t go to a gym.

(Mark Rhodes) #13

Elkhorn WI here.

I am of two minds. I agree with @PaulL about adaptation but we all know that keto depletes electrolytes in ways many of us are accustomed too. The links about magnesium are excellent and I know @carl has mentioned he uses ReMag which I just started myself.

I cannot help but wonder what your salt intake is? Salt according to Dr. Dinicolantonio in the Salt Fix is what regulated the magnesium and potassium.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #14

According to PURE and other studies, 4-6 grams of sodium/day is the healthiest part of the risk curve. That translates to 10-15 g of NaCl, inclusive of salt already present in food.

#15

Welcome.

Definitely make sure you get plenty of water and plenty of sodium every single day.

Not sure what your “electrolytes” drink actually contains (and in what ratios …) but sodium is the key otherwise you lose the rest.

I know what it’s like to have aches in the legs. As you keto adapt more and more it gets better. Mitochondria are getting established and trained up to burn ketones.

It is said keto adaptation takes about a month or so, and that’s sort of true for most people, but Dr Volek who does a lot of research on ketosis in a sports performance context says it can take many months or over a year to fully adapt.

Babies and kids can switch back and forth between keto and glucose burning very quickly and efficiently but we have spent decades training our glucose burners while neglecting the alternate fuel option so we’re a bit rusty.

Magnesium deficiency is not unheard of, supplements may be required.

I’m just hanging in there and giving it time. (As I keep my sodium levels up)

(Scott) #16

I like to run and for three months I had no energy and was even forced to take walk breaks. At the three month mark boom I had endless energy. You will think “hey, I didn’t get tired this time”.